I’m Liking The Sound Of…

• Atashinchi no Danshi

Horikita Maki‘s character marries a man who offers to pay off her debts that her father made, and moves into an eccentric family. I think (hope) this will be quirky and fun, and there are lots of well know guys in it: Kaname Jun, Okada Yoshinori, Mukai Osamu, and Yamamoto Yusuke have been announced so far.

• Hyoryu Net Cafe

Toki Koichi leads a pretty dull life. Until he meets his first love again in an internet cafe. Suddenly something happens with the electricity and he and everyone else get stuck in the cafe which has become a strange universe… or something. Perhaps it’ll be something like Long Love Letter, the drifting classroom drama. Stars Ito Atsushi who I hope wont be doing another Densha Otoko take with his character.
Also staring Asami Reina, and KIKI

Hmmmm? Dunno…

• Ghost Friends

Fukuda Saki plays a girl who can see ghosts after a car accident. Then she falls inlove with one of the ghosts. Nishijima Takahiro plays the love interest. Sounds OK, I like ghosts, but also doesn’t really sound that exciting at the moment… I think this one is aimed at a young audience, but I could be wrong.

• Smile

Staring Matsumoto Jun as a half-Filipino with no family and Aragaki Yui who can’t speak…. something about always smiling. Yeah, the story line sounds a bit twee but I’ll watch the first couple of eps for the cast!

• Majo Saiban

Ikuta Toma is chosen as a Juror on the trial of a suspected woman’s murderer trial. Yeah, from that name alone you know I’ll be watching, but at the moment this one feels like it is just going to educate us on the juror (jurial? I’m not sure) system. Hope it proves me wrong.
Also staring Kato Ai and Higa Manami

• Boku no Imoto

Staring Odagiri Joe and Nagasawa Masami, this is another “maybe” because of cast. The two are siblings with a close bond because of the death of their parents. However, Masami’s character isn’t the brightest and makes bad choices, testing the strength of the sibling’s relationship. Could be OK maybe…

Noteables

• Konkatsu!

About a single salary man in his mid 30s. Everyone around him talks about marriage so he begins to think about it as well. Noteable because Nakai Masahiro is staring in this! From Smap, for the past couple of Star Bowling eps that I’ve been watching he’s been wishing to be in another drama. His wish has come true!
- also stars Ueto Aya, Sato Ryuta, and Matsukata Hiroki

A new drama has been announced for the summer season 2008 – Code Blue. It is about an emergency service that uses helicopters to get to people in trouble quickly.

While (for me) the premise doesn’t sound that exciting, the cast make this one something I’ll have to check out. We have Yamashita Tomohisa, Aragaki Yui and Toda Erika, all staring as Flight In-Training Doctors.

This drama will air Thursday nights from July 2008.

• Code Blue’s Official Website

Episode three is mainly concerned with Papa’s work – everyone from the office goes to their house to pull an all nighter. Shizuka turns out to be a home wrecker, and Papa in Koume’s body does lots of study. Teenage girls bathing with each other and lots of hugs. All in all, not a fantastic episode but still a great one.

I think this show is trying to appeal more to an adult audience perhaps than just a teenage audience. They seem to be focusing a lot (so far) on Papa’s job. However, I think the real strong parts of the show are between Papa, Koume and Kenta the love interest of Koume. I think they are the funniest bit of the show but also the most tragic. Poor Koume is missing out on her youth!

Kensaku pointed out in Episode 2‘s comments that Tachi Hiroshi usually plays a serious detective. I think that with this knowledge, the show is even funnier!

Tachi Hiroshi is a great actor, and I love the scenes between Papa, Koume and Kenta.

The shigoto scenes just aren’t punchy or as entertaining.

Can’t wait for the next episode.

(Sorry, images removed ０７年１１月１０日 as requested by TBS)

Papa tries to ruin Koume’s date… And fails. Koume of course is over the moon! But then it’s Koume’s turn to do the Daddy act. She, in her father’s body, has to make a perfume targeted at young girls. However, all the market research was deleted and now Papa’s job is on the line!

The show starts off entertaining and funny – so refreshing after certain other boring dramas. I really love this drama so much, the comedy, the acting, the cast. It all works, it all looks great.

I love that Kenta, the “cool” soccer player, is really a big dork who falls over and isn’t 100% totally cool around girls. Makes it seem more real. I love Koume following the date around, carrying the bench around with her. It was fantastic.

I do have to say that the second half of this episode dealing with Papa’s work place wasn’t as engaging. However, it was still a great episode and I can’t wait for the next one. So sad that this show is only going to run for seven episodes.

It’s so funny – not stupid funny like other dramas running this season but good funny. Great acting.

Nothing bad really.

Bring on episode 3!

It’s described as a “Freaky Friday” – like drama. Koume is a highschool girl with a huge crush on the star soccer player. Kyoichiro is a father who seems a little run down. The two haven’t talked to each other in years. After a freak train accident, something freaky happens… They switch bodies!

I was bound to like this just from the premise, but it was much more enjoyable than what I could have hoped for!

To start off, I loved the friend’s dream sequence of Koume’s father, and then the contrast with the reality. It was really well done and quite comical. Plus a bit of English in there, you know I can’t resist the English! Especially English that makes no sense. How spastic must have the English speaking guy felt? “How is it?” “You look divine”.

And then comes THE ACCIDENT! Dum dum duuuum! It was truly tragic. Shaking camera, bad music, bad dramatics. Truly laughable. Luckily it was quickly over and the rest of the show was fantastic, so I can forgive this little lapse. OK, so no matter what the action of the “body swap” was going to be bad, but this topped all my expectations and was really really bad. Really bad.

They wake up in each other’s bodies at the hospital. I love Kyoichiro’s idea of falling down the stairs – it works in the movies!

Back at home, with the mother conveniently leaving, the two try and swap lives. Attempted bathing. Kyoichiro (in Koume’s body) desperately wanting some beer. Koume (in Kyoichiro’s body) texting sms. It was highly amusing and lots of fun.

Tachi Hiroshi, the male actor, did a fab job of portraying a run-down old guy and a teenage girl.

The train scene was pretty bad. The music just made it worse.

Overall it was a fantastic episode and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series to see what develops (besides the father-daughter relationship *awwww*). Next up – a date! But why is Kyoichiro smirking?

They all get interviewed by a news program and they prepare for the mock toudai exam – but all in all this felt like a pointless episode where shit all happened.

Well well well well well. This was a filler episode if I’ve ever seen one. “Look ma, we’re on TV”. And what the hell was the point of the scene in Sakuragi’s house/office?

The lead up to the mock exam had something going for it, but of course we have to wait til next episode for that. I liked the fact that Sakuragi, Ino, et al were anxious for the kids.

Umm… the next episode looks good.

Nothing happened!!!

Yeah, this review almost seems like a filler review, doesn’t it…

(images removed ０７年１１月７日 as requested by the TBS)

Sakuragi and Ino go head to head to see who has the best English teaching method – learning through song or learning through grammar. We all know who wins…

lol@ the Director working as a night guard. Totally random. Yes, she is so irritating, but I love randomness. Randomness is good. It makes this show more entertaining.

This episode was a great episode. My heart does have a soft spot for English. It gave me some things to think about – in particular my own learning techniques and also the techniques I’m employing on this site. I hope I can improve this site because of this. My own idea of successful learning would include both methods – I need to know how a language works but I also need the fun side as well (as things can easily be learnt when you are having fun – I learn a lot of vocab by watching Japanese Dramas for instance!). Also, check back in a couple of days or so for something totally inspired by this episode.

Oh, and I love the Japanese speaking English. (huge fetish of mine!) OK, OK, so these guys are way better at English than I am at Japanese. I think I should definitely get up and sing to some Japanese music. It’d be good exercise too.

Love anything to do with Japanese and English.

… Actually, not sure there was anything I was disappointed with in this episode.

Over all, a good episode.

(sorry, images removed ２００７年１１月７日　as requested by TBS)

This episode the kids are studying very hard. So when Ichiro’s dick head brother makes fun of Ryuzan’s students, Hideki has to stand up and defend himself. He’s working hard after all. Then somehow Ichiro gets injured. Of course we know that his brother has punched him – but Ichiro says he fell, and so Hideki gets blamed. Anyway, Ichiro rocks, so Sakuragi tries to convince him to join the class.

I like how the teachers do the same duster joke with Sakuragi as the students did… except it fails miserably and the teachers still laugh. And the zipper joke was funny too “Oh, mine’s undone too”. I like comedy.

Anyway, this episode was FANTASTIC because it was focused on my favourite character – Ichiro! My hero. I felt so sorry for him – no one once asked him if he was ok, after obviously being hurt. All they cared about was his brother. No wonder he is a doofus if he’s been treated that way his whole life. Ichiro is awesome. I love my doofus.

Note the bible quotes on Mizuno’s shirt. What is up wit dat?

Ichiro focused episode. Do I need to say more?!?

The school’s teachers are lame, they really are. No wonder everyone is failing.

Next episode is all about learning English. And if you know me, you know I love Japan + English!

(images removed ０７年１１月７日 as requested by TBS)